Internet Of Things / IoT / Connected Home / Smart Houses

took receipt of a small bundle of hue stuff today (3x w&c ambience w. bridge kit, w ambience w. dimmer, 3 white (non-amb) w. bridge and smart button only to find the move date for the new place has been pushed back 2 weeks minimum.

not sure the second bridge will be needed but was in a cheap bundle so better to have it and pass it on if not needed than have to buy one full price later on. the building is narrow and long though so not ideal for signal travel.

new place is 4 bed, 2 bath, 2 reception rooms so plenty of scope for having some fun with automation. it's a rental so everything has to be reversible so no heating fun but everything we use now will transfer to our own place when we buy again toward end of next year.

plans for our half-way house so far

• repurpose rpi3+ from my unused picade for a homeassistant server.
  
  • motion detection in hall and landing for timed light activation w/ dimming based on time of day (white bulbs)
    
  • white and colour ambience bulbs in study/home office, (board)games/loft room and living room. using colour to trigger alerts on things like my 3d printer through spaghetti detective green=done, red=run and see what just fucked up very quickly.
    
  • white ambience in rear reception/dining room so gf can work down there in day and make it cosier for meal times.
    
  • bedrooms and various lamps probably hue compatibles to keep costs low.
    
  • will set up some mixed lighting scenes in living room for gf to watch tv
    
  • setup existing google home minis for synced music throughout ground floor
    
    

hoping that this will sell my gf on the automation concept and get the ok for adding a ring doorbell, some free standing security cams for front and back ground floor rooms and a few more speakers for the upstairs rooms out of our "furnish our first proper adult sized dwelling" budget.

I also need to figure out a mesh wi-fi option on top floor and back of the house as my single uni-fi ap probably wont have 100% coverage.